The Church of Euthanasia made a second appearance at EarthFest in 1998, this time brandishing a fake letter from the festival sponsor, radio station WBOS. Outnumbered by sausage vendors, Church members paraded through the crowd and offended nearly everyone before the police finally caught on.

The Church presence at the previous year's EarthFest had apparently angered WBOS management, because the police were definitely on the lookout. As soon as Church members arrived at the Esplanade, a police detective intercepted them and told them to leave, explaining that "whatever you're planning to do, you can't do it, and if you try it we'll arrest you for interfering with a permit."

Rev. Korda countered that this was a misunderstanding because WBOS had specifically invited the Church of Euthanasia to participate, and then produced a letter of invitation from the WBOS employee in charge of EarthFest. The letter appeared to be on WBOS stationary, the design of which had been obtained surreptitiously via previous correspondence with WBOS. After carefully reading the letter, the detective backed off, and the Church was soon fully deployed and haranguing breeders.

The letter held up surprisingly well, but was periodically scrutinized, each time by a larger group of police officers. The third time, the officers took the letter away with them, and in retrospect this might have been an opportune moment to pack up and leave. The officers soon returned, led by the letter's supposed author, who was extremely upset and demanded that Rev. Korda be charged with forgery. Rev. Korda was obliged to produce identification, but the police then lost interest and just told the Church to leave immediately and never come back.

Subject: IGD 17

Institute for Global DADA

EARTH DAY NOT BIRTH DAY

The first DADA action of 1998 will take place at the WBOS "Earthfest," from noon to five on Saturday, April 25 at the Hatshell. The meeting place will be announced in a subsequent post.

The esplanade will be a sea of baby-toting yuppies eating hot dogs for the earth. We will attempt to demonstrate the inherent irony with the usual visual and auditory assault on good taste and decency. Tacky press coverage will be provided by Detour magazine. Volunteers are needed to hold the giant banners! Pray for a dry and reasonably windless day.

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews